N.Y. officials, newspaper duel over gun data

Jan. 4, 2013
|

The (Westchester, N.Y.) Journal News in White Plains, N.Y., posted an interactive online map showing gun-permit holders in Westchester and Rockland counties. It also had asked for the same information for Putnam County. / The (Westchester, N.Y.) Journal News

Putnam County officials, who initially agreed to provide the information to the Westchester-based Journal News, said in a press conference here Thursday they would defy New York State's open records law and refuse to provide the controversial information.

Janet Hasson, publisher of The Journal News Media Group, responded that the company will take legal action if necessary. "We take seriously our obligation to serve the residents of Putnam County and will aggressively pursue the community's right of access to public record information."

The newspaper requested the data from Westchester, Rockland and Putnam counties, and published the first two counties' data on Dec. 23 - mapped by name and address on an interactive database on the paper's website lohud.com.

Putnam County is on the eastern border of the state, 15 miles west of Newtown, Conn., scene of the Dec. 14 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary. The Journal News editors said they made the Freedom of Information requests in the wake of the killings because readers were "understandably interested to know about guns in their neighborhoods."

However, County Executive MaryEllen Odell said Thursday, "This is not about defending the issue of gun ownership in the aftermath of Newtown. This issue is strictly about the privacy and safety of our law-abiding citizens."

Putnam County Clerk Dennis Sant said this has been a very emotional time for him.

"I am a man who follows the rule of law," he said. "This is not about the rule of law anymore. We are talking about endangering citizens."

New York law on firearms licensing is "crystal clear and has been on the books for years," said Robert Freeman, executive director of the state's Committee on Open Government, on Thursday.

The law specifies that "the name and address of any person to whom an application for any license has been granted shall be a public record." Hence, Putnam County is legally required to comply with The Journal News' request, Freeman said.

The only way the information could be legally withheld is if the request for the records came from anyone intending to use it for fundraising or solicitation. "Routine publication by a news organization cannot be equated with solicitation, fundraising or commercial activity," Freeman said.

In the 1980s, the Wall Street Journal successfully sued the New York City Police for firearms records and the state's highest court unanimously ordered disclosure. There is no indication that the publication led to any harm or jeopardy, Freeman said. "I don't think there is anything pejorative about (being named on a gun permit list).

"U.S. society is motivated far too frequently by fear and in so many instance the fear is, I believe, unwarranted," Freeman said. "Information gives us the ability to make choices."

There have been efforts to change New York's laws on access to firearms records but none have succeeded to date, Freeman said.

According to a 2011 list compiled by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, 15 states - including New York but not neighboring Connecticut - allowed public access to the names of those who hold handgun permits, although some limited access on addresses.

Thursday, state Sen. Greg Ball, a Republican from Patterson, N.Y., said he will introduce legislation to make sure gun-permit database release is at the discretion of law enforcement.

At the New City, N.Y., event, the Rockland County officials will announce support of what they said is state legislation to make information in pistol permit applications confidential and they also will publicize the county's free distribution of firearms cable-safety locks, they said in a press release.

Putnam County has about 100,000 residents, Rockland County about 315,000 and Westchester County almost a million. All three suburban counties are part of the New York metropolitan area.

Staff was not evacuated, but incoming mail now will be screened, said Robert Weiss, chief executive officer of the RPW Group Inc. that owns the building the news organization partially occupies. White Plains Public Safety Commissioner David Chong said tests will be done to determine exactly what the substance is.

The newspaper has been besieged by angry gun rights advocates. The newspaper's Facebook page is riddled with complaints that the database was a map for criminals to steal guns and a slur on law-abiding citizens. Andrew Arulanandam, director of public affairs for the National Rifle Association, condemned the coverage as "dangerous" and offering "no public service."

The Journal News, The Poughkeepsie Journal and USA TODAY are owned by Gannett Co.